In an endoscope used for such purposes as examination and treatment in a body cavity, dirt adheres not only to the outer surface of an insertion section inserted into the body cavity, but also to respective tubes, such as an air/water supply tube provided inside the insertion section and a suction tube also serving as a forceps channel. Therefore, the endoscope is cleaned and disinfected after the use thereof.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-263066 discloses an endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for cleaning and disinfecting an endoscope. According to the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, in a cleaning process, a rinsing process, and a disinfection process, which form a cleaning and disinfection process, the properties of electrolyzed water used for the cleaning and disinfection are adjusted in accordance with the extent of dirt accumulated on the endoscope, without the need for a complicated operation.
In a conventional endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, so as to be able to clean and disinfect plural types of endoscopes, i.e., endoscopes different in, for example, length, thickness, and specification of the insertion section thereof, the size of a cleaning tank provided in the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus is adjusted to an endoscope of the largest size. Further, in a facility having an upper gastrointestinal endoscope and a lower gastrointestinal endoscope, in many cases, each of the endoscopes has been cleaned and disinfected by a special cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for the endoscope.
Furthermore, according to the conventional endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, in the cleaning and disinfection of an endoscope, an operator carries the used endoscope to the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus.
However, if the cleaning and disinfection is performed on an endoscope of the smallest size in the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus having the cleaning tank adjusted to the endoscope of the largest size as described above, the amounts of cleaner and disinfectant to be used, the cleaning and disinfection time, and so forth are set to be the same as those for the endoscope of the largest size. Thus, there arises a problem in that the cleaner and the disinfectant are consumed more than necessary for the small-sized endoscope, and that the cleaning and disinfection time is increased.
Further, in the facility having the upper gastrointestinal endoscope and the lower gastrointestinal endoscope, there is a risk of occurrence of an operational error, such as setting the upper gastrointestinal endoscope in the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for the lower one due to carelessness of the operator.
Furthermore, it is conceivable that the operator grasps the used endoscope directly with a hand and carries the endoscope to the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for the cleaning and disinfection of the endoscope. In such a case, to set the endoscope in the cleaning tank of the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, there arises a need to grasp a cover body of the apparatus with the unclean hand to open the cover body of the apparatus or a need to operate open and close switches and so forth with the unclean hand. As a result, there arises a problem in that the hygiene of the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus is deteriorated. To solve the problem, it is conceivable to provide the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus with a foot pedal as well as a mechanism for performing opening and closing operations of the cover body of the apparatus. However, the operation of checking the position of the foot pedal to open or close the cover body may be found bothersome by a user.
The present invention has been made in light of the above-described problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus capable of hygienically and effectively cleaning and disinfecting a used endoscope.